US aircraft carrier arrives in South Korea as a show of force against nuclear-armed North Korea

The agreement promises mutual defense assistance in the event of war.

Following a meeting of their defense chiefs in Singapore earlier in June, the United States, South Korea and Japan announced the Freedom Edge exercise.

Strike Group Roosevelt will participate in the exercise, which is expected to begin in June. South Korea’s military did not immediately confirm specific details of the training.

Rear Admiral Christopher Alexander, commander of Carrier Strike Group Nine, said the exercise was aimed at sharpening the ships’ tactical skills and improving interoperability between the countries’ navies “to ensure we are ready to respond to any crisis and Unexpected circumstances”.

South Korea’s navy said in a statement that the carrier’s arrival demonstrated the allies’ strong defense posture and “firm readiness to respond to advancing threats from North Korea.”

The carrier’s visit comes seven months after another US aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, came to South Korea in a show of force against the North.

The Roosevelt Strike Group also took part in a trilateral exercise with the navies of South Korea and Japan in April in the disputed East China Sea, where concerns about China’s territorial claims are growing.

Faced with growing threats from North Korea, the United States, South Korea and Japan have expanded their joint training and raised the visibility of strategic US military assets in the region in an attempt to intimidate the North.

The United States and South Korea are also updating their nuclear deterrence strategies, with Seoul seeking stronger assurances that Washington will use its nuclear capabilities quickly and decisively to defend its ally against a North Korean nuclear attack.